1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to liquid fertilizers. More particularly, it relates to a method of fertilizing agricultural soils to provide zinc and nitrogen plant nutrients to plants growing in the soil.
2. Description of Prior Art
Substantially anhydrous liquid ammonia is used in conventional fertilization programs as the primary source of nitrogen for the growing plants. Zinc is an essential element in plant nutrition, and a deficiency thereof in the soil is a common cause of poor plant growth. Accordingly, it is desirable to simultaneously apply both ammonia and zinc to the soil so that any zinc deficiencies in the soil may be overcome and whereby the zinc so applied is uniformly distributed throughout the soil.
Zinc oxide, a substantially water-insoluble solid, is the most economical source of zinc for agricultural purposes. However, since it is insoluble in anhydrous and aqua ammonia, it has not been possible to effectively utilize this low cost source of zinc in liquid plant nutrient compositions.
Surprisingly, the zincammine acetate solution of this invention can be infinitely diluted at ambient temperatures with agricultural grade anhydrous ammonia to give solutions for fertilizing purposes. This represents a distinct and unexpected advantage in using the liquid ammonia-zinc carboxylate composition of this invention because of the greater solubility of zinc acetate in anhydrous ammonia as compared to zinc sulfate.